Newport Final Preview

© Cailin MateleskaOlivier Rochus, like final opponent Mardy Fish, is chasing his first grass court title.

No. 4 seed Olivier Rochus of Belgium takes on No. 5 seed Mardy Fish in Sunday’s final at the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships. Both players are appearing in their first Newport title match and the winner will earn a first ATP World Tour title on grass.

Fish is trying to earn his fourth career ATP World Tour title and Rochus his third. Fish is 3-11 in his career in singles finals (0-3 on grass) while Rochus is 2-5 in ATP World Tour finals. The 28-year-old Fish enters with a 22-11 match record on the season and he’s appearing in his second ATP World Tour final in 2010. He was a runner-up at the Queen’s Club in London last month (l. to Querrey). Fish is trying to become the fourth American to win an ATP World Tour title this season (Querrey-3, Roddick-2, Isner-1).

Rochus, who was a semi-finalist here last year, is the first Belgian to reach the final in tournament history (since 1977). He has not dropped a set en route to the final. The last Belgian winner on the ATP World Tour was Steve Darcis in Memphis in February 2008. 
 
WHAT’S AT STAKE – Winner: $75,700 and 250 South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking points; Runner-up: $39,780 and 150 South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking points

FINALS HISTORY – Rochus: 8th career ATP World Tour final, 2-5 record, first on grass. Fish: 15th ATP World Tour final, 3-11 record, 0-3 on grass (‘03 Nottingham, ’04 Halle, ’10 Queen’s)

SUNDAY CHAMPIONSHIP HEAD-TO-HEADS –

(4) Olivier Rochus (BEL) vs. (5) Mardy Fish (USA)  Tied 1-1
02 Long Island (USA) Hard R64             Mardy Fish 6-4  1-6   6-3
07 Lyon (France) Carpet R16             Rochus  6-7(5) 7-6(6)  7-6(15) – Saved 5 M.P.
Note: In their last meeting on Oct. 25, 2007, Fish fired a career-high 43 aces in the three hour and one minute match and Rochus saved five match points before prevailing 17-15 in the final set tie-break.
                   
Rochus FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
QF: Nice (l Gasquet)
YTD W-L: 12-16
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 2
Date of Birth: January 18, 1981
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 65

~ The 29-year-old Belgian has not dropped a set en route to his eighth career ATP World Tour final (2-5)
~ The top Belgian is appearing in his first final since Stockholm last October (l. to Baghdatis)…His last ATP World Tour title came in Munich in May 2006 and his first title came in Palermo in 2000 (both on clay)
~ This week he has held serve 34 of 37 games (92%), saving 16 of 19 break points (84%)…He leads in return games won (39%) and points won returning first serve (41%)
~ He came in ranked No. 65 and will move to around No. 60 by reaching the final and if he wins the title will jump to around No. 50 or 51
~ He enters with a 12-16 match record on the ATP World Tour this season and his previous best result was the quarter-finals in Nice in May (l. to eventual champ Gasquet)
~ Here with girlfriend Jessica Johansson

Fish FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
F: London / Queen's Club (l Querrey); SF: Sydney (l Baghdatis); Delray Beach (l Karlovic)
YTD W-L: 22-11
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 3
Date of Birth: December 9, 1981
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 79

~ The 28-year-old Tampa. Fla. resident is appearing in his second ATP World Tour final of the season…Last month he was runner-up at the Queen’s Club in London (l. to Querrey)…Overall, this is his 15th career final     (3-11) and his last ATP World Tour title came in Delray Beach, Fla. on Mar. 1, 2009 (d. Korolev)…He is trying to capture his first ATP World Tour title on grass after runner-up efforts in Nottingham in 2003 (l. to Rusedski), Halle in 2004 (l. to Federer) and Queen’s last month
~ If he wins the title, it will mark the first time since 2002-03 Americans won back-to-back titles in Newport…
Last year Rajeev Ram won his first ATP World Tour title…In 2002, Taylor Dent won followed by Robby Ginepri
~ This week is No. 2 in first serve points won (85%), second serve points won (64%), service games won (93%, 38 of 41), return games won (38%) and points won returning second serve (62%) 
~ Has a 22-11 match record and came in ranked No. 79…His 22 match wins is the most of any player outside the Top 50 on the ATP World Tour…Will jump to around No. 59 by reaching the final and will climb to around No. 50 if he wins the title
~ Has dropped 30 pounds (from 200 to 170) since last September and credits a new strict diet and workout regiment under fitness trainer Christian LoCascio, who is here this week
~ His career-high is No. 17 on March 22, 2004

DOUBLES FINAL PREVIEW –  NO. 4 SEEDS TO MEET FIRST-TIME FINALISTS IN CHAMPIONSHIP
• No. 4 seeds Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Travis Rettenmaier of Los Angeles take on the left-handed Aussie duo of Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione, who are appearing in their first ATP World Tour final.
• In May, Gonzalez and Rettenmaier captured their first ATP World Tour title in Belgrade.
• Prior to that tournament, Gonzalez and Rettenmaier played together the only time in tour level play at Wimbledon last year, losing in the first round. They did team up in five Challenger tournaments.
• This week Ball and Guccione upset top seeds Fish and Querrey in the first round and in their next two wins they rolled on in straight sets.
• The last Aussie duo to win the Newport title was Jordan Kerr and David Macpherson in 2003.
• Gonzalez and Rettenmaier have only dropped one set this week, that coming in the quarter-finals.